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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Books Beyond Borders

It started out as a very simple venture. Last night I had somehow come across an advertisement on Cragislist for "free, used children's books." I think my heart started racing immediately. Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that I had just downed my 3rd cup of coffee in the last hour (Hey, I'm not pregnant or breast-feeding so this is allowed!). I tried not to act too excited as I calmly walked across the living room to tell my beloved husband. "It's free," I reminded him sweetly.

I can't imagine why Nicholas would roll his eyes at me. He has somehow conjured up this fear that I married him for his money. He thinks one day he will wake up and we will be living in a house with books wall to wall, ceiling to floor. For some strange reason that doesn't make him happy. I keep telling him that I didn't marry him to steal his money; I married him because I thought he was cute and muscular. Somehow my reminding him of that fact seems to come about when I'm trying to convince him to take another adventure with me...

And so, at 8:20AM on Saturday morning, I was up, dressed, and "bouncy"... I was trying to be patient, but when free children's books are calling my name, it's hard. You would understand, wouldn't you? Well, I should have brought coffee to his bed. That would have probably smoothed things over immediately. Somehow my dear husband kindly managed to get himself ready in the nick of time. Ellie Bear was ready too although she was giving kind of a wondering look.

I have lived in Austin for only 2 1/2 years so I'm not completely familiar with the area. I scribbled some directions onto a sticky note and felt fairly confident that my fearless leader could get us there by the time the doors opened at 9AM. We would have made it there in plenty of time if I had written down the directions correctly. After about 15 or 20 minutes of meandering around east Austin with little to no clue as to where this warehouse was located I convinced Nicholas to stop at the postal service and ask directions. Unfortunately, there was no one there.

While Nick sat in the car trying to get directions from my mother on the phone, I saw a man coming out of the post office. He looked kind enough so I ran up to him and asked him if he could tell me where the warehouse was. In broken English he explained that it would be much easier to show me where it was than to tell me. So I ran back to the car, jumped in, and we quickly followed him in our car. In a short jiffy, we arrived.

To our surprise there were only about half a dozen vehicles at the warehouse. Aha! I knew we were in luck. Now, husbands who drive their wives some place on Saturday morning and end up getting lost and having to get help from complete strangers because their wife asked, need a special reward. I was trying to tell Nicholas how much I appreciated his kindness. I think he would have rather I just shut up ;D

We entered the warehouse and what did we see??? Thousands of books. Thousands of them, I tell you!! All of them just waiting for someone to take them home. Nick and I immediately grabbed a box and began to dig through, looking for the richest, most precious of treasures. (Well, I may be exaggerating a tiny bit...) It was wonderful. An hour later, we walked out of the warehouse sweaty and tired. But we had two boxes FILLED with books that we both agreed needed to be brought home.

Another day I will share a few of the treasures we were able to procure. But for now, I need to get busy trying to tuck the books away into their new home. I think they are as happy as can be!